France Confident of Selling Rafale Jets to UAE

Feb. 17, 2013 - 01:25PM
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ABU DHABI — A top French defense industry official said Sunday that talks to sell Rafale jet fighters to the UAE were “progressing well,” expressing confidence that a deal could be reached with the Gulf state.

“We are confident that by the end we will succeed in selling it” to the United Arab Emirates, Christian Mons-Catoni, chairman of the French defense industries council (CIDEF), told reporters on the sideline of the IDEX defense show.

He said that given that the first delivery of Mirage jets would be 30 years old in 2015, “there is a great chance the customer (UAE) would like to buy in 2015-16 and we start delivery in 2017-18,” he said.